Meerak capital city, downtown district
“This isn’t good, we need to stop this monster now!” the colonel said urgently.
They were all in a tent of the forward offensive base approximately five kilometers away from the crater site where the empires ‘huge headache’ was situated. For some reason, the monster would not stray to far from downtown and would always go back to a wide crater and stand in the middle of it. The crater itself had started with only a radius of hundred meters, but with the few days of intense fighting and artillery fire coupled with aerial bombardments the crater had extended to three kilometers in radius.
Inside the tent, the major had read the report to the colonel of the past three days and announce the loses: three thousand two hundred and ninety-one dead, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six injured which half were deemed to gravely injured to last the next couple of days. Over eight billion in imperial credits in damage and lost equipment ranging from simple ammunition to tank, artillery cannons and even aerial fighters.
When Vickrein heard this numbers, he frowned inside his mask. This was more than three times the amount of loses he had expected from the imperial forces. This enemy soldier could not be considered a mere man anymore. Monster was an understatement at this point, calamity would be a better name for ‘it’.
“Quite the monster we have here.” Stated Vickrein with his monotonous voice. “What about the droid?”
“It is hiding inside the fallen buildings and rubble. We suspect that it is scouting and informing the Alliance soldier of our positions and movements but seems to not venture far from its master.” Answered Villeta. “It only attacks small and scattered troops, especially those that try to escape. It seems to have a high caliber sniper rifle which was able to bring down two of our fighters.”
“Hmm… Colonel, please withdraw any troops from the encirclement. I will be facing this thing alone and I don’t want to be responsible of killing your men… by accident.” The way he added his last words seemed forced, like trying to correct a slip of the tongue. He then added “agent Villeta, you will be charge of fighting that droid. I don’t want it hindering me during this fight. Use any method at your disposal to delay or destroy it… capturing it would be a bonus, but I won’t hold my breath.”
He then turned around and left the tent in direction of the crater.
“I know he is here to help us, but I hope he dies.” Said the major
“Please don’t say such thing major Midday. We are all friends here and besides, the man himself seems eager to help. Sir Vickrein is a very powerful biomentalist and I’m sure he will bring this to a favorable conclusion.” Villeta showed a very charming, bordering to flirtatious, smile to the major. “He is known to be vindictive and ruthless, but also to only be moved by what interests him. Since he seemed eager to join in, positive results await.”
“I hope you are right, our forces can’t handle this anymore and the soldiers fear this monster too much to even lift a finger against it… Just to be clear though, artillery fire and aerial support will still be open to you if you need it, agent.” Declared the Colonel.
“Thank you colonel Chuz. It was a pleasure meeting you all. My team and I will be going now. Please stay safe now!” She winked at them and with her same wonderful smile on her face, she left the tent.
“So beautiful. I’m completely smitten.” Said Major Midday
“I would suggest you don’t get to attach to her. Imperial Intelligence operative are worst then snakes. They are trained assassins and infiltrators. Seduction and social skills are but some of the many weapons they utilize.” Warned colonel Chuz
“She is on our side, there should not be any problems with some friendly banter, sir.”
“I hope for your sake that’s all. Associating with members of Intelligence can have many complications attached with it.”
---
Half way to the crater, Villeta had just met up with Noxus, walking together towards their target.
“Why are you with me? I asked you to deal with the droid.” Said the biomentalist coldly.
“You don’t have to glare at me so fiercely. I sent my men to scout ahead and locate the droid.” She said sweetly. “What came back was that the target just killed a couple more soldiers but seem to be acting strangely. He seems wounded, but the cause seems unknown since he has been fighting as per his usual. My hypothesis? He is tired.”
“I didn’t ask your opinion on the matter. Go simply take care of the AD droid.”
“Oh! I found him, but half my team is already dead, and the other half are trying to hold him off until I get there. I simply wanted to keep you updated since none of my men can do the report.” Announced the agent. “I don’t plan on dying, but I prefer to give you as much info before anything does happen to me and you are left alone. Well, don’t die now! See you later… maybe.” She vanished in thin air leaving only a slight presence that Vickrein could feel running off. She kept her joyful and charming smile until the end, but her tone became a bit more serious at the end of her farewell.
Even with all the ‘façade’ she showed, Vickrein saw the viciousness in her eyes. He didn’t care for this colleague of his, but he was certain she would manage to stay alive. He knew those eyes, the same eyes he had since a longtime ago.
The further he went, the more destroyed vehicles and corpses he found. The level of destruction was on a massive level and more he got closer to the crater, the more he felt danger creeping up on him. Passing by destroyed artillery stations and more corpse, the battles here were incredibly intense. A few minutes later, he was on the top of the outer edge of the crater. Vickrein was pleasantly surprise at the view.
“Well, we will only need to cover up the crater for this shared grave.”
Mountains of corpses, either whole or in fragments, were covering the complete landscape of the crater. Multiple destroyed tanks were scattered around among the corpses and the smell of death was more present than any other battlefield that Vickrein has ever been at.
A man with a badly battered body armor with the colors of the Alliance still barely visible among all the dried-up blood on him was standing in the middle of the crater on top a literal mountain of corpses. That was the biggest pile of corpse in one place Vickrein had ever saw and he was in awe.
‘I must say that I am quite impress.’ Thought Vickrein. ‘He really doesn’t emit any biological energy anomalies typical to Biomentalist. All this from pure physical strength alone then? Oh! My word! I can’t wait to open him up and see what makes him so powerful.’
He started to approach casually among the rubble and bodies and has he approach he started to notice that the man was breathing heavily but in a rhythm. His body was massive, and he could see the well define muscle protruding here in there of his destroyed armor. The helmet was nowhere to be scene showing off the man black hair and red eyes with lightly whiter skin than humans.
However, the man was in a bad shape with bloodshot eyes and he seemed to slowly but continuously bleed from those very eyes, nose and ears. He was looking at the ground, seemingly growling a bit. He seemed like a wild beast with his arched body.
‘Weaken? He looks to be at deaths door! I need to hurry and neutralize him, so I can see if anything is salvageable.’ Vickrein was thinking quickly to find a way to collect his specimen. He then gave up the idea of fresh samples since that kind of bleeding was indicative of severe internal bleeding.
“Let’s end this quickly then.” Vickrein took a step and disappeared to reappear a second later behind the man. Hand raised with the hilt of double-bladed light sword appearing in it and activated while he did a stabbing motion. All of this was done in a split second.
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However, to Vickrein surprised, his forearm holding the double-bladed light-sword was grabbed. He then saw the men lift his head and stare in his eyes. Pure bloodlust could be felt in those eyes staring up at Vickrein and the next moment he was thrown meters away in the wreckage of a tank. The impact of the landing resounded throughout the crater and Vickrein looked dishevel laying on the debris.
‘OH! OH! YOU DARE!’ raged inwardly Vickrein. He tried calming down, but it was only when he heard blood curdling scream that he got back to his senses and calming down.
He looked at the men and saw him running quickly towards him. Every step seemed to propel him at astonishingly increasing speeds. Vickrein stood up and reactivated his light-purple double-bladed light-sword while his body started to emit darken purple lightening. He crouched, one hand on the ground and then explosively jumped forward.
A mere instant later he appeared on the right side of the man and slashed the man repeatedly. He seemed to look like a lightening tornado with dark winds growing around him. But to his surprise this only lightly pressured the monster which was blocking the strikes with his hands and forearms.
Vickrein saw the weapon hurting the man with the burnt in cuts in his flesh, but the man’s skin was regenerating as fast as the cuts he was unleashing on him. His streaks seemed to be unable to dig deeper in his flesh.
“Fascinating...” muttered Vickrein.
He couldn’t stop being surprised by the being in front of him. How he wished he could just capture this specimen!
Bang! The man slipped a counter in, punching Vickrein in his stomach blowing the wind out of him and propelling him in the cliff of the crater. Bouncing a few times, he manages to regain his balance and dashes forward meeting halfway with the beast of a man in front of him. The lightening extended itself on the sword effectively staggering the monster and before it could react, Vickrein kicked him in his sternum pushing him back a few meters.
Before he could regain his balance, a powerful lightening strike surged out of Vickrein left hand streaking at the man, blowing off the remainder of the battered chest piece armor and sending the man flying one hundred meters further into debris.
“Come monster, let analyze more of your capabilities… Woah!” A piece of what seemed to be the wing of a fighter was thrown at such a high velocity, Vickrein thought he would have been cut in two by it. “His becoming stronger?”
Yes, as inconceivable it looked, the monster seemed to become stronger. But Vickrein saw that he was bleeding more profusely. ‘It seems that it can become stronger, but at the cost of something. Is it simply his body unable to coop with the strain of it or is it something else making him bleed?’ Thoughts were continuously immerging inside Vickrein’s head.
“Time to be a little reckless too…” said Vickrein. He started shacking and the lightening coming from his head started to concentrate there. It then started to crawl towards the length of his arms with the same condense amount of lightening, ‘This much is my limit for now’ he concluded to himself.
Dark winds started to accumulate around his lower body, lifting him up like which resembled a twister and charged forward meeting the charging man half way. An immense explosion and blinding light could be seen coming out of the crater for miles around.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, the group of fifteen operatives of the Imperial Intelligence were reduce to three. The survivors were hiding behind rubble inside a building and were under sniper fire.
“This is crazy! How is this droid so dangerous! Wasn’t it built six hundred years ago?” said one agent.
“We need to retreat; this op has failed.” Said the second.
Villeta was pondering what to do. Such a situation was indeed not in their favor. They had underestimated the craftiness of the droid and were now vying for their lives. After so more complaining from the two agents, she notices something.
“It’s too quiet.” She commented. Both agents stopped talking weary of their surroundings. And then a last shot was heard, but this laser shot hit a pillar behind them which then crumbled away making the floor over their heads fall.
All of them jumped out of the building running for cover, one got hit in the leg immobilizing him and the another got shot in the head. Villeta got to cover, but a grenade got lobbed to her position the moment she took cover. She got up, activating an emergency kinetic shield and jump away. The explosion hit her, and she was then propelled forward hitting a wall debris.
Shaken, she tried to get her bearings, but heard metallic foot steps coming her way. A cold metallic hand and grabbed her neck lifting her in the air. She was able to still breath but barely. She saw the other agent being held the same way on her right. In front was a menacing looking droid with dark yellow lights for eyes. The black and lightly rusty look it had gave both agents an eerie feeling terrifying them.
“Announcement: Congratulations my new meaty looking friends! You are now the chosen few that will have the chance of having a future! Commentary: Such a marvelous opportunity comes very few times so please accept this gratifying present of yours truly.”
The operatives stared dumbstruck with confusion written all over their faces.
“Kof!... What… the f@#k... Kof!” said the agent but then his neck got squeezed even tighter, cracking until a loud snap could be heard. In Villeta’s terrified eyes, she saw the agents head dangle loosely forward.
“Surprised exclamation: Oh! My! It seems my left hand has some damage and accidentally snapped his neck, even when I added such little pressure to this vulgar being. Sarcastic heartfelt apologies: I hope he wasn’t a dear friend; however, I do apologize for such an unsightly sight.” The droid let go of the body which dropped lifelessly to the ground. “Query: I hope this will not affect any future dealing between us, will it not?”
Villeta was petrified and unable to voice her response. She simply shacked her head to confirm her compliance. ‘I don’t want to die by this crazy machine!’
“Declaration: Perfect! We are now friends! Introduction: I am WS-15 of the exclusively built WS series constructed by my Master! Query: My I know who you might be?” The droid lowered Villeta enough so she could touch the ground on her toes and loosen its grip, so she could talk and breath better.
“I am… Kof, Kof! I am an operative of the Imperial Intelligence department. My name is Villeta Kallus.” She said sincerely.
“Surprised observation: Honesty! Surprising coming from such an individual. Query: Were you expecting me to be able to see if you were lying?”
“Yes, most assassination droids have many torture protocols with the in-built lie detectors…”
“Frustrated clarification: I am NOT one of those substandard models of the AD series. Proud explanation: Even though I do share similarities with them, I am an upgraded version with higher combat capabilities and I have the added function of diplomatic protocols enabling me to be able to communicate in more then two thousand five hundred different dialects. My data base is extremely vast and is updated regularly so my performance stays stellar in any diplomatic situation. I even had an inputted ‘stellar Butler’ protocols with over ten thousand ethic maneuvers for any kind of cultural presentation across the galaxy. I act for my master as a worldly servant to conduct perfect forms of diplomacy, but I occasionally participate in graceful wanton slaughter for him too. The best of both worlds.”
Villeta was speechless, unable to understand what was going on. This machine was clearly crazy. ‘What does it want?’ confused she kept listening to his unrelenting bragging for another five minutes.
“Conclusion: Because of this, I have to assure my master safety at all cost. Which is why I must now use you. Declaration: You will now assure that I complete my protocol to safeguard him by giving me the opportunity to take him to safety. Warning: Any action undermining the success of this operation will result in your painful and miserable death assured my yours truly.”
“Wha-What must I do?” inquired Villeta.
“Explanation: Firstly, I will wrap this bomb…”
----
In the crater, the fight was going on relentlessly. Both man where fighting with extreme fervor. Vickrein was now panting and extremely fatigued and so was his opponent, but they still charged head-on at each other.
Vickrein’s mask was cracked open revealing a glimmering orange eye. His robes in tatters showed his inner layer armor and dark reddish and black skin. He was now fighting with his fist full of lightening since his double-edge light-sword hilt got shattered in two.
Both met in the center of the crater, unfurling punches and kicks at each other in rapid succession, then Vickrein saw an opening, smashing his fist on the face of this monster with all the lightening he could muster which exploded and sent the man flying into a crumbled building. He waited for a moment and saw no movement from the man in the building.
He staggered but wrestled to stay on his feet. ‘Is it finally over?’ he thought. The man wasn’t moving so he started to approach cautiously.
Suddenly he saw agent Villeta appear next to him. “That will be all now sir Vickrein Noxus. Imperial Intelligence will take over from here.”
Vickrein felt vexes. “What? What are you talking about?”
“The empire’s intelligence sections were dispatched as support for the operation, but our primary objective was the retrieval of this man for the High Council. High Councilor Rayvin sends his apologies and thanks you for your help in apprehending the man.” She seemed in a rush, close to nervous, but Vickrein didn’t see it.
“You dare take my specimen? After all my work! HE IS MINE!!!”
In a moment of blind rage, Vickrein shot a lightening strike at the agent sending her flying and fell a meter away. She laid on the ground barely moving. ‘She is lucky I can’t use as much power… I would have turned her into charcoal.’ He activated a holo-communicator. “Colonel, you may come for pick-up, the monster of yours has been dealt with, but he is mine. Send a containment cell, I’m bringing this monster back home for study.”
“Thank you sir Noxus for your hard work. ETA ten minutes to your location.” Confirmed nervously Colonel Chuz.
Vickrein turn around and saw that the agent had fled. With a dismissive look in his eye. He went to ready his specimen.
“…Where is he?!” shocked Vickrein looked everywhere and anger started to swell in him. He got played. ‘By who? Imperial Intelligence?’ thinking they took him while he was distracted, he started to run in direction of the imperial base.
In the other direction, a droid was dragging the man on his shoulder, he turns around and activated a detonator, but nothing happened.
“Rhetorical question: Did I not correctly prepare the explosive? Assertive realization: No, it must be tempering from my dear friend. Resignation: Nothing can be done for now. I hope we meet again agent Villeta.”